I need a cookbook to convince me that French cuisine is not as sad as culinary shows teach us, and by sad I don't mean just: no dish without a dead animal, but also: not being able to add flavour without butter - butter, butter, butter, cheese, wine, some more cheese, and butter. I always hated the flavour of butter. As a child I lived on cottage and my family had cows. Butter reeks of stables. I can't stand margarines with too much buttery flavour either.

I was considering Linda Majzlik's A Vegan Taste of France (I like her other cookbooks), but now I think I actually need this cookbook.

This arrived and I from just a quick flick through I think I will use it more than the others. I think for me,the first one is too healthy or easy and I have better Asian books than the second. European recipesare less easy to get hold off, so they look more attractive, I think.

This arrived and I from just a quick flick through I think I will use it more than the others. I think for me,the first one is too healthy or easy and I have better Asian books than the second. European recipesare less easy to get hold off, so they look more attractive, I think.

Exactly my thoughts.

I haven't used it much yet, but it interests me more than the other two. And sometimes I really do want to make something different but I only have 30 minutes. European vegan food is different for me!

admittedly i bought a copy online and returned it. although the concept of the cookbook seemed exciting and original, the recipes did not impress me. i've seen them in other places. they also somehow seemed a bit fussy to me, which is odd because i don't mind fussy recipes.

_________________"....but I finally found block tempeh a few weeks ago with the intent to give it my virginity." -Moon

I made the creamy chickpea soup from the Greek chapter tonight and it was delicious. I cut the broth by 1 cup which is always how I start with soups because I like them thick. This was still not all that thick so I'd recommend starting low on the broth and working up. It was very tasty and perfect for our sniffly selves. It has quite a few ingredients to assemble but the actual cooking time is minimal.

I haven't made anything yet, but it is hard to come across European vegan recipes so I was excited. I'm used to veganizing my own European foods, but it's definitely a hole in the vegan cookbook world.

That said, I guess the 30 minute concept wasn't exactly what I was expecting. Not that there's something sacred about that number, but I was hoping for a little more expedited/streamlined stuff. I have very limited time for food prep without a toddler freaking out on me, so while I know Rachel Ray turns off a lot of people here I actually like the concept of very quick, streamlined meals, or minimizing prep time, or whatever.

Good point. It kind of feels like the 30-Minute thing was an obvious brand and that his book deal contained three books, so he called it that, but they are slightly more finicky recipes than I would expect. I quite like that aspect, though it is a little misleading.

I made the apple hazelnut salad with shaved fennel today for a casual apple-themed work potluck tomorrow and it seems like it is going to be lovely. Lucky since my CSA loves to give me tonnes of fennel and celery, and they aren't my favourite ingredients.

The 30 minute vegan cookbook is probably one of my least favorite cookbooks. It is a bit my fault for buying it but if the recipe calls for things like daiya, I'm not happy. Other people are fine with that.

I'm guessing this cookbook has a lot of that as well?

_________________You are all a disgrace to vegans. Go f*ck yourselves, especially linanil.

I don't think there has ever been daiya in the 30 minute vegan cookbooks.

I find that there are a lot of side dishes in his books and I don't always get excited by his recipes. Some are good and others are not as good due to short cuts for cooking in under 30 minutes. In Taste of Europe, there are 2 recipes that appealed to me. I made the Chickpeas with Roasted Garlic (Spanish/Portugal section) and added spinach. They were very good!